MOVE vs. The Bundys in black and white

THE AMMON Bundy-led standoff at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge is eerily similar to the MOVE crisis that gripped Philadelphia in 1985.

Like the armed back-to-nature group MOVE, the Bundy-led militia has a yearslong history of conflict with the government.

And while both MOVE and the Bundys engaged government forces in violent confrontations before armed standoffs, there is a major difference between the groups. MOVE was black. The Bundys are white.

The Bundys’ issues with the government go back to 1993, when the federal Bureau of Land Management began a conservation effort that require ranchers who wanted to graze their cattle on federally protected land to pay grazing fees. When rancher Cliven Bundy refused to pay, and other ranchers sided with them, the tensions escalated into acts of terrorism.

Photo: Oregon standoff leader Ammon Bundy, pictured above, has been jailed. One of his followers, Lavoy Finicum, was killed in a confrontation with police. Gage Skidmore / Flickr Creative Commons

Solomon Jones is an Essence bestselling author and award-winning columnist. He is the creator and editor of Solomonjones.com and morning host on 900 am WURD radio. Click here to learn more about Solomon.